Utah is a red state that talks a big game on local control. But state lawmakers have recently shown they’re willing to intervene on local issues.
The Legislature is considering bills this year that deal with statewide zoning changes, control of streets in Salt Lake City and more. The Utah League of Cities and Towns, which represents 257 municipalities across the state, is currently tracking 207 bills that could affect the way those cities and towns operate.
“There's always concern when it feels like the legislature is running a bill that's targeting one city over another,” said the League’s executive director, Cameron Diehl.
The balancing of state goals like increasing the housing supply with preserving the autonomy of Utah municipalities is a question Diehl said he’s asked about “every day throughout the year, not just at the Capitol.”
“Part of our role as a league is to make sure that we are raising those important questions,” he said. “What's the problem we're trying to solve? Is this the proper role of the state, or should this be something that's left at local government? Is there a gap in communication and collaboration that we can collectively work to fill?”
This tension between the state and local governments is not new.
In the early 2000s, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson went toe-to-toe with lawmakers over the Legacy Highway, the road that runs parallel to I-15 between the capital city and Farmington. Just last year, current Mayor Erin Mendenhall called lawmakers' actions to exert control over the city on issues like public safety, flags on government buildings and the management of its roads “punitive.”
According to Diehl, that tension is not even unique to Utah.
“State legislatures are constantly pushing unfunded mandates down to cities or trying to preempt local governments,” he said. “We see it in red states, and we see it in blue states.”
When it comes to this legislative session, some of the more headline-grabbing proposals have yet to be heard, like the one to rename the portion of 900 South in Salt Lake City known as Harvey Milk Boulevard — after the late LGBTQ rights advocate — to Charlie Kirk Boulevard. Other bills have moved forward with varying degrees of success.
One to make building homes on smaller lot sizes easier and faster ran into roadblocks after local elected leaders voiced concerns about preempting local zoning control. That bill is currently held in committee, and its future is uncertain.
Another bill, which could reshape how some of Salt Lake City’s busiest roads are controlled, appears to be moving forward. Critics have characterized the bill's language as hampering the city’s efforts to make streets safer for pedestrians and bikers, while supporters say it’s about efficiency and traffic flow.
“There's been comments that this is a state takeover of city roads. I do not think so,” said the transportation bill’s sponsor, Sen. Wayne Harper, during a Feb. 9 committee hearing. “We need to make sure that the delivery vehicles can get into businesses and supply them with what they need. We need to make sure that emergency vehicles are able to get everywhere they want.”
For its part, Salt Lake City leaders have said they are cooperating with lawmakers on the fate of the city’s streets.
“Everybody has worked in good faith,” said Salt Lake City Council Chair Alejandro Puy during the committee hearing. “The sponsors have been open to amendments from the city and our input, which in government is always worth acknowledging.”
Just as tensions exist between local leaders and the state, Utah also has to push back on Washington, D.C. The latest issues are AI regulation and the boom in online prediction markets, which Utah leaders consider no better than sports betting. Gambling, it should be noted, is banned in the Utah Constitution and in other state codes.
Utah State University political scientist Damon Cann said those relationships aren't the same, thanks to our federalist system. While the roles set out by the Constitution between the federal government and states are firm, states and cities operate more on a handshake agreement.
“States are sovereign,” Cann said. “Cities, counties and other local governments are political subdivisions of the state. They do not have sovereignty.”
And that means they’re working with less political power.
“When the state comes in to tell a municipality or a county that they have to do something or that they are not allowed to do something, then there's not a lot of recourse that that locality has because they don't have sovereignty.”
For municipal advocates like Diehl, it’s still important to separate responsibilities between the different levels of government.
“One of our mantras at the League is ‘one size misfits all,’ because the challenges that a community like Roosevelt is facing are totally different than the challenges that a Sandy is facing,” Diehl said. “Yet at the end of the day, all of those mayors and council members have been elected to ensure the quality of life of today's and tomorrow's residents.”
This story is based on reporting from the latest episode of State Street, “Small government, bigger Utah.” Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
